Thursday, April 09, 2015

APHIS: 2nd South Dakota Turkey Farm Hit By HPAI H5N2

# 9923

APHIS HPAI avian flu notifications continue to come in on practically a daily basis (8 farms hit in 9 days), with a second farm in South Dakota now reporting the virus. This makes the 16th commercial poultry operation in the United States to be hit by either HPAI H5N2 or HPAI H5N8 in 2015.

Mashup of Commercial Farms only – Source USDA

Here is the APHIS notification on the latest outbreak, in Kingsbury County SD.

CDC considers the risk to people from these HPAI H5 infections in wild birds, backyard flocks and commercial poultry, to be low

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2015 -- The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza (HPAI) in a commercial turkey flock in Kingsbury County, South Dakota. This is the second confirmation in a commercial flock in South Dakota. The flock of 34,000 turkeys is located within the Central flyway where this strain of avian influenza has previously been identified. CDC considers the risk to people from these HPAI H5 infections in wild birds, backyard flocks and commercial poultry, to be low. No human infections with the virus have been detected at this time.

Samples from the turkey flock, which experienced increased mortality, were tested at the South Dakota State University Animal Disease Research & Diagnostic Laboratory and the APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa confirmed the findings. NVSL is the only internationally recognized AI reference laboratory in the United States. APHIS is working closely with the South Dakota Board of Animal Health on a joint incident response. State officials quarantined the premises and birds on the property will be depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease. Birds from the flock will not enter the food system.

The United States has the strongest AI surveillance program in the world. As part of the existing USDA avian influenza response plans, Federal and State partners as well as industry are responding quickly and decisively to these outbreaks by following these five basic steps: 1) Quarantine – restricting movement of poultry and poultry-moving equipment into and out of the control area; 2) Eradicate – humanely euthanizing the affected flock(s); 3) Monitor region – testing wild and domestic birds in a broad area around the quarantine area; 4) Disinfect – kills the virus in the affected flock locations; and 5) Test – confirming that the poultry farm is AI virus-free. USDA also is working with its partners to actively look and test for the disease in commercial poultry operations, live bird markets and in migratory wild bird populations.